Rear-axle drive for motor-vehicles



0: S. PULUAM.

REAR AXLE DRIVE FQR MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY t9, 1919.

1 ,3713809, Patented Mar. 15, 1921. 55 i A TTORNEYS UNITED sTA TES oswALns. PUL IAM, or NEW YORK,

{REAR-AXLE DRIVE ron MOTOR-VEHICLES.

Application filed May 19,

T0 caller/710m it may] concern:

Be it known that I, OSWALD SPULLIAM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Rear-Axle Drive for Motor-Vehicles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in rear axle drlves for motor vehicles, and has forits primary object to provide a device of this character which is adapted to take the place of the ordinary differential commonly employed for this purpose.

A further object of the present nvent on is to provide means by which .dlfi'erential movement of the driving wheels of a motor vehicle is obtained, and, at the same time, provision is made for positively locking both of said wheels directly with the powertransmitting element.

A still further object of the invention is to so construct a device of this character that the positive locking thereof is obtained in either direction.

With the above and other objects in view, reference is had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of a motor vehicle rear construction;

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference character 10 designates a bevel gear of the rear axle driving mechanism, and projecting from opposite sides of the bevel gear 10 are stub shafts 11, each of which is provided with a spiral groove. 12, the groove in one shaft extending in a direction opposite to that in the other shaft.

Surrounding each of the stub shafts 11 is a sleeve 13, and said sleeves are divided in-. termediate of their endsby means of a partition 14:. On the'outer end of each of said sleeves and beyond the partition 14 thereof, is a shaft 15, and to these shafts 15 the rear driving wheels of the motor vehicle are se cured, said wheels being designated by the Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dial.

15,1921. 1919. serial NOwZQSjZZY. r

reference character '16; ljlach of these shafts 15 is provided with asplral groove 17 and said splral groove extends in a direction opposite to the spiral groove of its-adjacent,

stub'shaft 11. r v V Mounted within eachof the sleeves 13 on opposite sides of its partition 14, are coil springs 18, there being'two of said coil springs on each side of said partition. Mounted between the adjacent ends of, the

coil springs 18, are keys 19, and said keys 19 are adapted to engage. in-"the spiral grooves 12 and 17 for a purpose to be hereinafter described. As shown in Fig. 3, these keys'19 comprise a substantially circular plate, from the peripheral edge, of which projects a substantially rectangular member l9,which is adapted to lie within the spiral The operation of this formofthe device is as follows: Power being transmitted to the bevel gear. 10, the same is rotated in a forward direction. rotates, the keys 19 which operate in the spiral grooves of'the stub shafts 11, will be moved to place one of the springs 18 under compression, the spring 18 being compressed the gear 10. As the spring 18 becomes completely compressed, the sleeves 13 will be rotated, and through the medium of the keys 19, in their outer extension, will place one of the springs in the outer section of the sleeve under compression. As this spring continues to compress, and its limit of compression is reached, the shafts l5 of-the driving wheels 16 will be rotated.

When the power is released from the bevel gear 10, the device is returned to its normal position by the exertion of the stored up energy in the springs 18, the sleeves 13 rotating about their respective shafts and stub shafts to permit of this operation.

In Fig. 4 is shown a modified form of the invention and'in this form the springs 18 are dispensed with. The bevel gear wheel As the bevel gear 10 10 is provided on its opposite faceswith stub shafts 20, each of which is provided with a continuous thread 21. Surrounding the stub shafts 20, are sleeves 22, and slidably mounted in slots 23 in said sleeves .22,

form having been removed in order that the keys 2d may look positively instead of setting against a resilient action.

By this construction, it will be seen that as the stub shafts 20 are rotated in either direction by means of the bevel gear 10, the keys 24; will be moved to the ends of their respectiveslots 23, and when the ends of said slots are reached, the sleeves Will serve to rotate the stub shafts 20 and communicate power to the driving Wheels 16 of the motor vehicle. a a 7 Claims: w

LA device of the character described, comprising a'gear, a stub shaft projecting from opposite side faces of said gear,and

each provided with a spiral groove, a sleeve surrounding each of said stub shafts, and adapted to receive theinner ends of the rear axles, a plurality of coil springs carried by said sleeves, and means carried by said sleeves and operating in said spiral grooves for placing said springs under compression as and for the purpose described.

2. A device of the character described, comprising in combination vvith the rear axles of a motor vehicle, a gear Wheel provided with oppositely disposed stub shafts provided with a thread, andmeans for resiliently connecting each of the oppositely disposed stub shafts with its respective axle.

A device of the character. described comprising a driven member provided on its opposite sides With spirally groovedstub shafts, a spirally grooved shaft in axial alinement with each of said stub shafts, and means engaging the spiral groove of-each of said stub shafts and the spiral groove of each of said axially alinedshafts for operatively connecting each stub shaft With its respective axially alined shaft. v OSWALD S. PULLIAM. 

